The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), one of Canada’s federal research funding agencies, recently announced its latest round of Insight Development Grant recipients.

Among the scholars who received federal funding are eight MacEwan faculty set to pursue research on various topics – from facilitating homeless youth in retelling their stories to game-based learning in higher education to taking an Afrocentric approach to social work education.

SSHRC Insight Development Grants support early-stage research to enable scholars to turn their curiosity about a societal issue into research questions or new methods or approaches for understanding and solving the issues, says Dr. Craig Kuziemsky.

“The complexity of today’s world means that we cannot always reuse existing approaches or solutions for key societal problems but rather we need trendsetting research that develops new ideas and innovations,” says the associate vice-president, Research. “The continued success of MacEwan faculty members in receiving SSHRC Insight Development Grant funding affirms that our research is timely and well positioned to make meaningful impacts in society.”

Here are the latest recipients:

SSHRC Insight Development Grants

Project: Applying Self-Determination Theory and In Game Learning Support to an Educational Game, “Life on the Edge”

• Robert Andruchow, Department Chair, Art and Design and Assistant Professor, Bachelor of Design (co-applicant)
• Dr. Dana Cobzas, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science (co-applicant)
• Dr. Ross Shaw, Assistant Professor, Department of Biological Sciences (co-applicant)
• Dr. Isabelle Sperano, Associate Professor, Bachelor of Design (co-applicant)

• Dr. Hellen Gateri, Associate Professor, School of Social Work (collaborator)

Project: Participatory Video with Homeless Youth

• Dr. Margot Jackson, Associate Professor, Department of Health Systems and Sustainability (co-applicant)

Project: The United Nations People of African Descent Decade and the recommendation for Afrocentric Education in Canada: An exploration of an Afrocentricity paradigm for social work education and practice

• Dr. Valerie Ouedraogo, Associate Professor, School of Social Work (applicant)

Project: In-between spaces: Navigating recreation as a Canadian Muslim immigrant youth

• Kelsey Reed, Assistant Professor, Child and Youth Care (co-applicant)

SSHRC Connection Grants

Over the summer, SSHRC also announced successful applicants from MacEwan for several Connection Grant competitions. These grants support events and outreach activities geared toward short-term, targeted knowledge mobilization initiatives. 

Project: Widening the River: Communicating Performance Research Beyond Scholarly Communities

• Dr. Heather Fitzsimmons Frey, Assistant Professor, Arts and Cultural Management (co-applicant)

Project: Sovereignty and Citizenship in Contemporary Ukraine

• Larisa Hayduk, Director, Ukrainian Resource and Development Centre (collaborator)

Project: Sacred Everyday: Explorations in Art and Christianity

• Carolyn Jervis, Sessional Instructor, Studio Arts and director/curator of MacEwan’s Mitchell Art Gallery (applicant)

Project: Expanding impact: activating arts and culture today

• Dr. Robin Nelson, Assistant Professor, Arts and Cultural Management (co-applicant)

Project: Biennial Meeting of Association for Philosophy and Literature

• Dr. Joshua Toth,  Associate Professor, Department of English (applicant)
• Dr. Alain Beauclair, Associate Professor, Department of Humanities (co-applicant)